oh what was i thinking

i’ve seen several lists in many different places recently about what not to do at an office holiday party. don’t drink too much. don’t talk business. do mingle with other people beside your normal department. don’t dress too festive or inappropriately. you get the drift. the list goes on and on, however i believe they left off 1 key item:

don’t stand up in a bar stool in the middle of the party in front of the CEO and all of the other executives. i know what you’re thinking….. “wow brooke. you really did that?!” yes. i certainly did. but to my defense, i was told to. AND everybody loved it!!! you see, what had happened was it a regional vice president’s birthday that night. he was actually in town and in attendance at the party. the COO was trying to get an HR girl to get everyone’s attention so we could sing happy birthday to him. although he tried, he couldn’t convince her to stand in the barstool and tell everyone to sing. all it took was for her to look at me and say “get up there” and I was kicking my shoes off and up on my feet. i announced the birthday and then started singing. about half way through, i looked down and made eye contact with the CEO and my new big boss, the VP of HR. at that point, not gonna lie, i was a little nervous. what the heck was i thinking??!?! we finished up singing and the birthday boy came over thanking me saying how great that was. my big boss promised that he wouldn’t fire me and that everyone loved it. my old big boss couldn’t believe what he saw because when i reported to him, i was very quiet and shy around him. he congratulated me for “coming out of my shell.” (oh if he only knew!!)

the rest of the night was fun. the party continued and a great time was had by all. i woke up this morning a little nervous about what my day at work would bring. luckily there were no terminations thrown at me!! and no complaints or disciplinary actions. but mental note to self: don’t ever do that again!! happy holidays y'all!!